Today, there are a variety of schools for parents to choose from. You have your traditional public schools, charter schools, magnet schools, Christian schools, Montessori schools, online schools, and more. It can become a little overwhelming for parents when trying to choose the right school.
That is why we want to be here to help you navigate the school choice process. As career educators, we have been in public schools, charter schools, magnet schools, and private schools in addition to being parents ourselves. So based on our experience in education, we have created a 6 step process to help parents in selecting the right school for their child. The 6 steps are:
- Understand the goals you have for your child
- Identify the needs of your child and your family
- Understand your child’s schooling options
- Research schools
- Select the right school
- Stay involved in your child’s education
The most important step in this 6 step process is understanding the goals you have for your child. If you would like to learn why this is the most important goal, see example goals, and learn more information on each step of the process, check out our free video on Choosing the Right School for Your Child at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4fI-t-jLVo.
The third step in selecting the right school for your child is understanding your child’s schooling options. The video goes over some of the different school options along with some main differences between private and public schools. Below is another free resource to help you better understand the different school options. In this resource we have grouped schools into 4 types:
- Public School District (regular public school, magnet school, fundamental schools, etc)
- Public Charter (regular charter schools, magnet charter schools, online charter schools, etc)
- Private School (Montesori, Waldorf, non-religious, etc)
- Private Religious School (Christian Schools, Parochial Schools, Jewish Schools, etc)
We have also included an additional column for Ignite Academy. The questions we have included on this sheet our questions we commonly receive from parents. Since we have grouped all schools together in 1 of 4 groups, please know the answers to these questions are just generalities and do not apply to all schools within a specific category. So we hope this helps you in finding the right school for your child.